Plans to move Tipton St John Primary School from its current ‘risk to life’ flood plain to a new site in Ottery St Mary have taken a big step forward.

Tipton St John Primary School, which has about 90 pupils, has been in the village for more than 200 years.

But repeated flooding at the site has led to the school governors to take the decision to relocate the school from its current location, with the Church of England school having been flooded on a number of occasions with children being evacuated and the school being shut.

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The school is set to move to a new site in Ottery St Mary, next to the King’s School, and Devon County Council’s Farm Estates Committee in December agreed that Thorne Farm be declared permanently surplus and that part of the site be transferred to the Dioceses of Exeter for the provision of a new primary school, subject to planning permission being agreed.

Flooding next to Tipton St John Primary School

Land at Thorne Farm will also be sold off for housing which will held to raise the finance needed to build the new school.

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The preferred option had been to try and relocate the school within the village, but after a £3.5m bid to the Government was rejected, and due to the flood risk, a rebuild on the current site was not viable, a move to Ottery St Mary was considered the only realistic option.

The Thorne Farm Site from above (to the west of the King's School)

The school is set to more than double in size – to 210 pupils – and would accommodate children from Tipton St John but also meet the need for additional school places for children from the new developments in Ottery St Mary which cannot be met at the existing schools which are at capacity.

The Farm Estates Committee agreed that Thorne Farm, Ottery St Mary be declared permanently surplus to the operational requirements of the Estate and that part of the site be transferred to the Dioceses of Exeter for the provision of a new primary school to replace the one at Tipton St John and that part of the site be sold on the open market for residential development to raise essential capital required to finance the construction of the new primary school. Developer contributions from Ottery’s new homes developments are also available but cannot be transferred to Tipton.

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The report to the committee said: “The farmhouse and buildings at Thorne Farm were sold off many years ago. The 26.74 acres or thereabouts of bare land has been retained and farmed by a local County Farms Estate tenant. Thorne Farm has been identified for many years as a potential development site for the expansion of Ottery St Mary with part of the land (8.08 acres) allocated within the East Devon Local Plan for community/education use.

Tipton St John Primary School was cleared up after flooding swept through the playground in 2016

“The current primary school at Tipton St John is in a high flood risk zone and has been identified by the Environment Agency as a potential ‘risk to life’. The County Council has undertaken a feasibility study to relocate the Tipton St John primary school and part Thorne Farm has been identified as the only viable site.

“There is currently a substantial funding gap between the capital available for the replacement school build and the forecast cost of actually building the school. To enable the new school to be built the County Council will need to raise a significant additional capital receipt.

“The County Council is thus in early discussions with East Devon District Council over a potential outline planning application for the new school and a housing development on Thorne Farm.”

Governors of the school had previously outlined the rationale as to why the school needed to relocate to Ottery St Mary.

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In a statement, they had said: “As the school is flood prone to the extent that the Environment Agency have indicated that there is a ‘RISK TO LIFE’ on the site, a rebuild on the current site is not a viable option.

Tipton St John Primary School was cleared up after flooding swept through the playground in 2016

“The current site is small and split into two areas separated by a road which is liable to flood and the buildings on both sites of the school are inappropriate for the functioning of the school. The split site and cramped facilities mean that a lot of time is wasted in supervision of children moving around the site and there are no meeting rooms or hall and no separate spaces for staff.

“Flash floods from the Metcombe Brook and the longer lasting flooding from the Otter are a threat to the pupils and the buildings. Water entered the buildings in 2008 and 2012 and during flood events a torrent of water flows along the Metcombe road, which staff and pupils must cross to leave the floodplain, and the buildings on the lower site become an island surrounded by water.

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“The Governors must act to ensure the safety of staff and pupils and plan ahead to secure the future of the school. We cannot accept the status quo.

Tipton St John Primary School was cleared up after flooding swept through the playground in 2016

“The new school would be able to accommodate the Tipton year groups of about 15, which are currently combined as two year groups in a class, together with the anticipated 15 pupils in each year group expected from the new developments in Ottery.

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“If the school relocates to Ottery the site will be as close as possible to Tipton St John at the King’s end of the town. The school would be sustainable and the future secured, would be able to provide what we offer to twice the number of pupils and the school would have the space and layout, inside and out, appropriate to a modern school.

“If the option is not to relocate the school, there will still need to be a school in Ottery, but it would not be a Church school and its possible catchment is undetermined. The children and staff in Tipton will still be vulnerable to flood risk, the buildings will continue to deteriorate, the lower site will eventually become unusable, and we shall retrench to a two class school on the upper site. The schools in Devon currently being closed as unsustainable are the two class schools.

Tipton St John Primary School

“The Governors have responsibility for the health and safety of the staff and pupils at the school, and after many years of working to move the school away from the floodplain within Tipton that prospect is no longer open to us. A move to Ottery is not the outcome for which we have worked but it is a solution which would provide sustainability and secure the long term future of the school.”